Harrison's Team Confirms Return Before Year's End

Kayla Harrison is coming back before the year is out.

Ali Abdelaziz, Harrison's representative, confirmed the timeline this week without specifying an opponent or a date": "She will fight this year for sure. Towards the end of the year, she will fight."

Harrison has been sidelined since withdrawing from a January fight with Amanda Nunes to undergo neck surgery. The withdrawal came at a significant moment — Nunes had come out of retirement specifically to pursue a fight with the champion, and the collapse of the January booking left the women's bantamweight division in a holding pattern that has not been resolved since.

The record Harrison brings into her return is formidable. She went 16-1 in PFL before joining the UFC in 2024, rattled off three straight wins under the promotional banner, and claimed the women's bantamweight championship with a kimura submission over Julianna Pena at UFC 316 in 2025.

Harrison's team has not named an opponent publicly, but the Nunes fight is the one the division has been waiting for. Nunes has made her own position clear, rejecting the idea of competing for an interim title and stating she wants Harrison specifically. A two-time UFC bantamweight champion coming out of retirement to face the current champion is not a matchup either side needs to overthink.

Nunes remains one of the most accomplished fighters in the history of the sport. Whether the version that emerges from retirement retains the qualities that made her dominant for a decade is the central question attached to any fight she takes now. Harrison will fight. The opponent she has been building toward for the better part of two years is still waiting.